Spinning Obama’s Budget

Excerpt

Josh Gordon, policy director with the Concord Coalition, told us in a phone interview that ideally, the president would have said that his plan reduces deficits by $600 billion relative to where things stand right now with the sequester in place. But it’s also perfectly plausible to present the numbers as part of an ongoing deficit reduction effort that began with the Budget Control Act.

“I think that’s a valid way to look at it,” Gordon said. “I don’t think there’s a big attempt to mislead here. The key is that even though the sequester is current law, it’s debatable whether it is possible to keep it up in its current form for 10 years. I would argue that it is not sustainable for 10 years in its current form.” . . .

The Concord Coalition said in January that $4 trillion in deficit reduction “would hardly mean the ‘job is finished.’ ” After Obama released his budget, the Concord Coalition said it was a “credible framework,” but called for a “more ambitious” bipartisan attempt to reduce the debt.